


Worth standing up for

by Caoilainn



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Good Friend Lestrade, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Incest, John is a Bit Not Good, M/M, Protective Lestrade, Referenced Mycroft Holmes/Sherlock Holmes, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 09:01:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13244922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caoilainn/pseuds/Caoilainn
Summary: Inspired by the A Matter of Love series by Scarletmanuka.Greg can’t let it go, what Sherlock told him. He needs to confront John.





	Worth standing up for

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scarletmanuka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletmanuka/gifts).
  * Inspired by [A Matter of Trust](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9517214) by [scarletmanuka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletmanuka/pseuds/scarletmanuka). 



> This probably won’t make sense unless you’ve read the series it was inspired by.  
> Thanks to Scarletmanuka for letting me play in your universe! 
> 
> One scene I kept imagining when I read “A Matter of Trust”, after Sherlock spoke with Lestrade about John, was a confrontation between Lestrade and John about it (pretend Lestrade didn't promise Sherlock to keep out of it). I can’t say for sure where in the timeline I imagine this would take place. John knows about Sherlock and Mycroft being together but while he doesn’t expose them he’s not all that happy about the relationship (so slightly AU-ish). Now when it’s done I feel like maybe Lestrade should have let John get a word in edgewise, just to be fair, but that’s not how the conversation unfolded when I wrote it.
> 
> I’ve been fortunate enough to not have experienced physical abuse, nor am I aware of anyone close to me having been physically abused either, so I apologise if something rings untrue.

~~~

 

Since it was a few hours after the lunch rush was over the pub Greg had chosen for meeting up with John was quiet. Only a couple of the tables were occupied and Greg had picked one in the back that afforded more privacy. It had been some time now since Sherlock had finally told the DI about what had happened between him and John over the last couple of months, or since Sherlock came back from the dead really.

 

Greg knew that Sherlock had changed a lot since the early days of their acquaintance, especially after he met John, and the younger man had changed even more during the time he was away. More recently however Greg had noticed a happier Sherlock emerging who seemed to be more content than ever with his life. Greg had a strong suspicion as to why, but he had decided to keep out of it for the time being unless Sherlock brought it up. This clean and happy Sherlock was an amazing contrast to the belligerent young man he had first met. But Greg was also aware of the fact that the Sherlock of today was much more conscious of the things he valued in life and as such went to great lengths to keep them. The older man had been bemused, and furious with himself, when he was told that John on several occasions had reacted with physical violence towards his flatmate. And if that wasn’t unexpected enough then Sherlock’s reaction to it stunned him. Just like his own mother had done when Greg was young, Sherlock forgave the man who had hurt him. Sherlock had explained that he just wanted to keep the atmosphere calm at home, to keep it together for Rosie’s sake and that he wanted to keep his friendship with John. Even more disturbing to hear was the fact that Sherlock seemed to have fallen into the trap of thinking that he had somehow provoked the attacks and that he, to some degree, deserved the violent explosions that sometimes occurred during an argument with John. Greg’s mother had thought the same way about her husband’s actions. That John and Sherlock weren’t lovers did no difference what so ever, it was still domestic abuse.

 

The DI blamed himself for not having noticed this disturbing development and he would have happily reacted with violence of his own towards John, if given the chance. He knew that he couldn’t keep up a friendship with a man who treated someone he claimed to care for like that. Not to mention the disquieting way that John apparently had reacted when Sherlock rejected his attempt to take their relationship to the next level. It might not result in anything harmful happening to Sherlock but the behaviour still set off alarm bells in Greg’s mind.

 

If someone had asked him, before that particular conversation with Sherlock, what he thought of John Watson then Greg would have said that John was a good and loyal man. What really caught Greg off guard was that while he would have described John like that he still had no trouble taking Sherlock’s word for it when the younger man spoke of a version of the doctor that Greg hadn’t met, or at least hadn’t been properly aware of before. A large part of it was obviously due to the fact that Greg counted Sherlock as a long-time friend and trusted him. But it was also because, just like those pictures-within-a-picture, he could now easily see the man Sherlock had revealed his flatmate to be. The signs had been there. Besides, he had seen John’s damaged knuckles for himself after Mary died and John had admitted that he had hit Sherlock. Greg hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time but now he felt guilty for not looking into it.

 

Now that Sherlock had finally told him the full story Greg had decided to cut ties with John. First though he had needed a couple of weeks to get a handle on his own anger and then he had to decide what to say to the doctor. Of course, the whole thing was made a little more complicated since he could cut ties with friend-John but not with work-John. Still, his conscience wouldn’t allow him to keep acting like he had no problem with John’s actions. Greg had now reached a point where he felt ready for the confrontation he would have to have with the other man. He wanted to make it inescapably clear to John that the way he had been acting was more than just wrong. He wanted to drive the point home. John knew nothing of Greg’s past, of his violent father and beaten-down mother, and Greg had decided not to mention it. It might make John shift his focus from the situation with Sherlock and direct it towards Greg, thus defeating the purpose of this meeting. And if John turned spiteful instead he might be able to convince himself that Greg was only taking this stand against him because of the DI’s own past rather than because of John’s behaviour.

 

Greg took a deep breath in order to clear his mind and then checked his phone. They had decided to meet at 2.30 pm, which was in roughly 5 minutes. He had just started to respond to a text from Donovan in order to pass the time when he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up to find Sherlock’s flatmate criss-crossing between empty and occupied tables in the pub.

 

”Greg! Hi! It’s been ages! At least ages since I've seen you outside of crime scenes and the Yard” John said as he came to a stop next to the table where Greg sat.

 

“Hello John. Yes I know.” Greg knew he could have sounded more enthusiastic but found that he didn’t care enough to fake it. Sherlock would have chided him for his poor acting skills.

 

“You want a beer?” John asked. Apparently he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary in the way Greg acted which was a surprise since he had known, and lived with, the ever-observant Sherlock Holmes for several years by now. Greg privately thought that the doctor should have picked up a few pointers after all that time, but obviously not.

 

_Knock it off, stop the spiteful inner commentary and concentrate,_ Greg told himself. He had a plan he wanted to follow, vague as it may be, and something he wanted to accomplish here.

 

“Sure.” That one word reply seemed to be enough for John.

 

The doctor went over to the bar, whistling to himself, and soon returned with two pints. He then sat down across the table from the Greg and drank some of the beer with a pleased smile on his face.

 

“So, what's new with you?” he asked.

 

“Well, the thing is that I should have spoken to you before now. Something came up and I needed some time to…get a handle on things.” Greg started off, and winced internally at that clumsy opening. He had decided what he wanted to say today but realised that he hadn’t quite planned how to get the discussion going in the right direction.

 

“I did wonder if there was something going on with you, but I figured if it was serious then you would have said something earlier. That or Sherlock would deduce it and hopefully cared enough to say something about it. No chance of keeping secrets from him, although he’s definitely skilled at keeping them himself” John commented, sounding more bitter towards the end.

 

Ignoring those last words for now Greg continued. “It is serious and it’s something that I needed to speak to you about. Look, it may sound like I'm rambling a bit but I feel like I have to give you some context so that you really understand what I’m trying to say here. “

 

“Ok…sure. Go ahead.” John seemed attentive, possibly thinking that he could provide Greg with advice, so the DI decided to get right on to the matter at hand.

 

“I'm guessing that you've meet a lot of victims of domestic abuse while working as a doctor?” Greg asked. He figured it would be a good idea to start in a way that should remind John of any experiences he might have had himself.

 

“A fair number. It's always sad to see” John answered.

 

Greg judged by the look on John’s face that the man was sympathetic, but there was no sign that he made the correlation between relationships like those and the one between Sherlock and himself. Greg carefully chose his next words in order to snare the man in front of him. Sherlock might not agree, but Greg was known at the Yard for being a damn good interrogator and interviewer.

 

“You see, I came across a lot of domestic abuse cases when I worked as a constable” he continued “I still do but now it’s because the victim is usually deceased. I've talked to so many women, and a few men, who had just been assaulted by their partners but still didn’t want to press charges. Instead most of them would say that it wasn’t so serious because it didn't happen all that often, that it wasn't so serious because they didn't need to go to the hospital, that they themselves were to blame for having upset their partner, that their partner did love them but just got angry some times, and so on.”

 

“Yes, I’ve heard the same sort of explanation from the persons I’ve spoken to.” John said, nodding in response. From what Greg could see the doctor still remained oblivious to the deeper meaning of the conversation.

 

“The victim still love, or think they need, their spouse and try to please them, but in the end something always sets the abusive partner off. The victim has to keep secrets and hide the things that they know would spark an argument because they know that their partner may or may not become violent. And if their spouse discovers whatever it is that they've tried to hide or lied about then the resulting argument just gets more aggressive. It's a vicious circle” Greg paused to allow John the opportunity to speak up but since the other man just listened quietly, nodding now and again, he continued.

 

“Say hypothetically that there are two people who love each other and has known each other for a long time. They've had their differences before but lately one of them, who has always had a hot temper, has started to explode more often. The hot tempered one has both hit and flat out assaulted their partner on more than one occasion. Their partner doesn’t even fight back and has forgiven them again and again. Maybe the victim hope that it’s just a phase and that the earlier happier times will return if they can just wait this out and if they manage to not annoy or anger or push their partner. Like I said before, the person who is being abused starts to lay low, to keep things from their hot tempered partner to avoid upsetting them and so on, which in turn has the potential to make the rows even worse.” Greg paused. “What would you say to someone in a relationship like that?” His tone of voice, and the expression on his face stayed the same but inside he felt the thrill of the hunt, of being moments away from striking his prey.

 

Just to see how John would react Greg had deliberately chosen his words so that the ‘hypothetical relationship’ mirrored John and Sherlock’s, but could also be interpreted as an example of the kind of domestic abuse Greg had talked about.

 

“I guess I would have kept trying to talk to the victim and get them to leave their partner.” John sounded hesitant now, like he started to become aware of the fact that there was more to this conversation than he first realised.

 

“And say what?” Greg was almost there and could soon tear into John about his treatment of Sherlock.

 

“That they deserve better. That maybe you can forgive your partner once for becoming physical, if even that, but if it keeps happening they should definitely leave their partner. I would say that they deserve better than being abused by someone who claim to love them and that there’s no reason why an argument between two adults in a relationship should result in violence.” John’s words sounded almost recited, but at the same time his voice grew more and more cautious.

 

Yes! Now Greg had him. He had known that John could probably easily disregard the opinions of others on this matter, it was a pattern Greg had seen in his own father, but it would be harder for John to disregard his own words. Greg couldn’t help but feel that in some ways John was still a decent man. He would have to be since he had won the trust and affection of a man as… challenging as Sherlock Holmes. But for some reason the doctor had begun to justify lashing out when angered and there was no excuse for doing something like that. The fact that Sherlock had forgiven him time and again probably made him feel like he didn’t have to curb his behaviour.

 

Greg had learnt, during his many years on the force, that the good guys were never completely good, and the bad guys were never completely bad. Even though it was difficult sometimes Greg tried to remind himself that the men and women he arrested, for any sort of crime, may have people who genuinely loved them, for whatever reason, and that those people may have seen a different side of the criminal than the one Greg and his colleagues where presented with. However, while he might keep that in mind it didn’t change his reaction to hearing Sherlock speak, in a slightly bewildered voice, about being hurt by his long-time friend. To hear that the younger man was still hopeful that it would all go back to ‘normal’ again and that John would come to his senses. No. If there was one thing Greg could not abide it was abuse, in any way, shape or form. He wasn’t going to wait this out and leave it up to John to hopefully realise that he had to change the way he acted. Lord knows what could happen before then.

 

Pushing his untouched glass of beer to the side and leaning slightly forward over the table Greg caught John's eyes to make sure that he had the other man’s full attention.

 

“That is what I thought you would say. Recently though I've had reason to doubt my understanding of some of the people I consider myself close to. You see, I never thought Sherlock would keep forgiving someone, even his best friend, for using violence against him, and that he wouldn't even try to fight back. And I never thought you were the kind of person who would abuse someone you claim to love.”

 

Greg could see the confusion, shock and denial on John’s face, just like he expected to. John physically leaned back in his chair as if to put distance between himself and Greg’s accusations.

 

“What? I… No! That’s not the same thing! How can you say that to me? I love Sherlock, I even wanted…more with him-“

 

“You mean you repeatedly tried to pressure him into becoming lovers even though he was very clear when he told you that it wasn't what he wanted and that he’s not attracted to you at all?” Greg interrupted.” Yeah, I heard about that.”  If this talk didn’t affect John the way the DI hoped it would, he couldn’t help but imagine John getting more and more aggressive about that part of the issue too. It felt all too familiar to some of the cases Greg had worked on. Their saving grace was that Sherlock’s partner would never allow John to harm the younger man again and if there was one man Greg thought could guarantee that it was Mycroft Holmes. Sherlock might hold back because of his long, and mostly positive, history with John but Mycroft would have no such qualms.

 

“Okay, I admit I lost it when Mary died and I felt he was to blame, but I loved her! And I have a right to be… mad! He keeps lying to me! First fooling me, fooling the both of us, into thinking he died and now faking his relationship with that guy Mark!” John replied hotly.

 

And here came the denial, like a textbook response. Unfortunately for John they had now reached the most important part of the conversation as Greg saw it. The whole reason they were even here in the first place.

 

“Didn't you just say, no more than a few moments ago, that there was no reason why an argument between two adults who care about each other should result in violence? Didn't you just agree with me about how the victim often stayed with the abuser and kept hoping everything would be alright? That they would reach a point where they started to have secrets and hide things just to try and keep things calm? And frankly John, I know you were hurt by the whole matter surrounding Sherlock's supposed death. We all were, but that is no excuse what so ever for you to lash out at him with violence! He did it partly to save you, you ungrateful twat! And how could you actually have thought for even a second that Sherlock had anything to do with Mary's death? He bloody well shot Magnussen in the head and condemned himself just for the sake of you and your marriage! He was even okay with Mary shooting him! And you didn't beat Mary up when you found out that she was the one who almost killed him, did you? And unlike Sherlock she actually was guilty of doing it!”

  
“No! But I-“

 

Taking an immense pleasure in crushing John like this Greg pushed on, not interested in hearing more justification from his former friend.

 

“No, I'm not finished! The way you keep trying for a romantic relationship with Sherlock when he was very clear about not wanting it, or wanting you, makes me even more sick than I already am by your behaviour. Did you figure that you were the best Sherlock could expect to get as a partner? The man faked a relationship not to make fun of you, but because you were so damn obsessive that he had to protect himself and his very real relationship.” Seeing John’s obvious desire to object to what he just said Greg unrelentingly kept going.

 

“Yeah, I know who his real partner is by the way and I don't care at all so shut up! You should have just accepted that he was in a committed relationship with someone else, regardless of who it was, but that he still loved you as his best friend. And you should, quite frankly, thank the gods that you're still alive considering who stopped you from hitting him the last time. Damn it John, these god damned violent temper tantrums you’ve started with?” Greg continued, trying to keep his voice down as he tore into John.

 

“You know, Sherlock’s not afraid of you beating him. He just wanted that wonderful friendship you guys used to have before you became an unstable arsehole! He allowed you to hit him! Sherlock is an extremely competent fighter. He would have to be considering all the trouble he has gotten himself into over the years, not to mention to be able to take down Moriarty’s network, but he wouldn't raise a hand against you. But if Sherlock won’t do so there are those who will act on his behalf. If you ever hurt him like that again and his partner doesn’t make mincemeat out of you I will arrest you no matter what Sherlock says about it! If there is one thing I can never accept or forgive it’s when someone abuse the people they claim to love. And that’s why I've turned down your invitations to meet up and that's why I don't want anything to do with you from now on outside of the work you do with Sherlock.”

 

Standing up Greg put on his coat and prepared to leave. He wasn’t interested in discussing this with John since there was no way that the other man could justify his behaviour. It would only anger Greg even more. And if John had realised the error of his way then he wouldn’t be able to do much more than to agree anyway. Greg came here in order to say tell John off and to cut ties, and now he had done just that.

 

“If I hear that you've gone off on Sherlock for telling me about what’s been going on between the two of you I will personally deliver you to ‘The British Government’ himself and let him deal with you. And something else for you to think long and hard about; if you see nothing wrong with claiming to love Sherlock but still being willing to hit him…how long until you do the same thing to Rosie?”  

 

If that parting shot didn’t make John think twice about how he treated others, then Greg didn’t know what else he needed to hear in order to change.

 

Heading towards the exit, and leaving a shell-shocked John Watson behind, Greg felt lighter than he had in a long time. Sherlock would no doubt deduce what Greg had done the next time they met up, if John hadn’t told his flatmate by then. The younger man might not be pleased but Greg could live with that. He had done what he felt was right because Sherlock, his mother and anyone else in a similar situation was worth standing up for.

 

~ _End_ ~

 


End file.
